By Seth Nidever
The man doesn’t even stop to put socks on.
Trying to get a fix on Craig Johnson as he dashes around Salmon’s Furniture Galleries is as difficult as trying to figure out how his elaborate, 35,000-square-foot store dropped into the middle of downtown Hanford’s small shops and bars.
Accomplish the first and you’ll figure out the second.
Behind the recliners, sofas and rich decorations is the 50-year-old Johnson, apparently a near genius at persuading people to purchase chairs, beds and other home furnishings.
But he can’t afford to spend much time in the recliners he recommends to others for relaxation.
It’s exhausting keeping up with Johnson as he grins at customers, shows off furniture and shoots off rapid-fire observations on Hanford and the rest of the universe.
He’s a human business tornado that works in reverse: He brings profits out of seeming chaos.
The evidence is the gallery on Seventh Street in Hanford, destroyed in a raging 2001 fire that wiped out $2 million worth of furniture.
Undeterred, Johnson vowed a comeback.
Today’s rebuilt store is the measure of how successful he’s been.
A large fountain greets visitors in the entryway. Employees invite customers to eat cookies baked in the fully-functioning kitchen at the back.
Sometimes, employees serve up home cooked meals to anybody in the store.
Johnson, pursuing his own vision against the recommendations of some of the furniture lines he represents, included the kitchen in the redesign, along with showers in his private office.
“I figured when it’s done, I would owe a lot of money, so I’d be living here,” said Johnson, sporting fashionably spiked gray hair, a rich tan and sockless leather dress shoes.
By day, Johnson and his workers sell furniture to a customer base that mostly hails from outside Kings County. By night, Johnson and his wife, Lisa, design ads, tinker with the decorations and do the bookwork.
Sometimes, it’s 10 p.m. or later before Johnson goes home to put in a few hours of sleep before the whole cycle starts again.
“This is my home. This is me,” he said.
It’s something that Paul Dombrowksi, a friend who owns Steeplejack Roofing, can understand.
“I think the main thing is perseverance, going at it, because you have your good times and your tough times, and being able to weather through the ups and downs of a business is probably the most difficult thing to adjust to. I think he’s done a pretty good job with that, kind of reading the economy,” Dombrowski said.
Business savvy and ambition seems to run through Johnson’s veins.
His father used to own the now-defunct Buick/Oldsmobile dealership in downtown Hanford.
Johnson said he grew up in a “blessed life” of material comfort. He vowed to continue living well as an adult.
Working at Winchell’s Donuts when he was a junior high school student, Johnson said he came up with the idea of selling the dough left over from the donut holes. For that, he got a few extra bucks a day.
“I’ve always been a kid that’s looking for an opportunity,” Johnson said.
Johnson was working at Kings
